Bigaignon presents Chris McCaw‘s first solo exhibition in France from April 23rd to June 1st, 2024.
Experimenting with large format cameras and various printing processes, Chris McCaw began building his own cameras in 1995. The artist equips his large format cameras with powerful lenses typically used for military surveillance. Instead of film, Chris McCaw inserts gelatin silver photo paper made from expired fibers directly into the camera. By pointing the lens towards the sun, it makes recordings lasting from thirty seconds to 84 hours. The sun, intensified by the lens, burns the paper while creating a solarized image of the landscape or sea below – a “direct positive” image made inside the camera, with no intervening negative. Seeking to extend the duration of his photographs, McCaw made four trips to the Arctic Circle in summer, when the sun never sets, to document the “midnight sun.” Throughout his work, these burnt lines and holes are tangible traces of the act of photographing: marking time, recording location, mapping weather conditions, and channeling light. The minimalist horizon lines, when visible, evoke the transient nature of the elements in the places McCaw chooses to photograph: the desert, the sea or the mountains.
Chris McCaw : Marking Time
April 23 – June 1, 2024
Bigaignon
18 rue du Bourg-Tibourg
75004 Paris
www.bigaignon.com
Hours of operation
Tuesday – Saturday: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
